Massaging vibrator with means for directing heated air onto a person



AKIHIKO TERANISHI VIBRATOR WITH ME ANS FOR DIRECTIN Dec. 3, 1968MASSAGING HEATED AIR ONTO A PERSON 3 Filed Feb.

I QINVENTOR flKIH/KO EPA/W6!!! BY W ATTORNEYS United States PatentABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A massaging device comprising a handlecontaining a motor, a vibrator connected to said handle by spring meansand driven by the motor through additional spring means, and a fan inthe handle for drawing air in to be heated by said motor and thendirected against the body.

The present invention relates to a vibrator comprising a fan fitted toits driving shaft which acts to enhance the massaging effect as well asto prevent overheating of the motor.

Electrical massaging vibrators which generate vibrations due to therevolution of a motor are well known. In the application of suchvibrators, a more satisfactory effect will be achieved if the vibratoris applied just after a bath has been taken, or if the affected part ofthe body has first been warmed with a hot compress. However, it is notalways convenient to take a bath or apply a compress just beforemassaging with such a vibrator. It is therefore desirable to providesome other means of warming the part to be massaged. Particularlyl incold weather, the direct application, without prewarming, of a vibratorwhich may be far cooler than the human body has a poor massaging effect,especially for old people and often causes a temporary contraction ofthe skin. Moreover, in the kind of vibrator which has a grip smallenough to be grasped by the hand, the motor installed therein isnecessarily small. Since, in order to develop sufiicient vibration therotary part must be fairly heavy, it imposes a substantial burden on themotor. Therefore the motor, becomes overheated and this makes "itnecessary to stop the motor every so often so that it can be cooled.Such a vibrator has therefore the drawback that it cannot be usedcontinuously over a long period of time. I

The present invention has been successful in producing an improvedmassaging effect by providing a new vibrator; capable of long continuoususe and free from the saidgdrawbacks of conventional vibrators.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood, one embodimentthereof will now be described with reference to the annexed drawing, inwhich:

The drawing shows an elevational view, partly in axial section, showingmy new vibrator.

As shown in the drawing, the main assembly comprises a cylinder 1 whichserves as a handle and a linking cylinder 7. Within the handle 1 thereis a motor comprising a rotor 2 and a fixed iron core 3. The fixed ironcore 3 is attached by a fastener 4 to the linking cylinder 7. A fan 6 isattached to the drive shaft 5 coupled to the rotor 2. As the fan 6rotates with the drive shaft, air is drawn into the suction hole 10 atone end of the handle 1 and as this air passes through the gap in thefixed iron core or around its periphery, it is warmed and this warmedair is discharged in the direction indicated by the arrow, after passingthrough the air hole 24 and the exhaust 11 in the linking cylinder 7.

In the example shown, the cover 8 is attached to the linking cylinder 7by means of screws 9. Consequently the main assembly is easy todismantle and clean. A spring holder 15 is attached at its lower end tothe cover 8 by screws 14. A portion of the driving shaft 5 coupled tothe rotor 2 extends into the spring-holder 15. For the sake ofstability, the portion of the drive shaft 5 which passes through thecover is provided with a bearing 13 supported in a bearing cup 12. Oneend of the spring 16 is attached to the tip of the drive shaft 5, whilethe otherend of the spring 16 is coupled to the weighted shaft 19. Thedrive shaft 5, spring 16 and weighted shaft 19 are encircled by a spring17 connected at one end to the vibrating unit 20 and at the other to thespring-holder 15. Weighted shaft 19 carries an eccentric weight 21 whichrotates within and causes vibration of the vibrating unit 20, which hasa massaging effect when applied to the human body. To keep the weightedshaft 19 stable, a bearing 18 for said shaft is positioned between thetop of spring 17 and the vibrating unit 20. The motor-holding part inthe handle 1 flares outwardly to form a ring 25, into which the linkingcylinder 7, having a larger diameter than the handle 1 is screwed. Thisarrangement permits installation of a relatively large fan 6, and at thesame time makes it easy to separate the handle 1 from the linkingcylinder 7, to clean the inside.

As described above, in this invention a fan 6 is attached to the drivingshaft 5 of the motor which drives the vibrating unit. The air drawn intothe handle by the fan is caused to circulate through the fixed iron core3 or around its periphery through the motor and is discharged out of theair exhaust 11, thereby causing steady ventilation of the main assembly.In this manner the motor is always cooled by the passing air, and thusprotected from overheating.

Since it is kept at approximately constant temperature, the motor canrun continuously for many hours without having its mechanism damaged.This is in practice very convenient as compared to the conventionalvibrator which is subject to extremely high increases in temperaturerise and consequently requires stopping at short intervals. The airintroduced through the suction hole 10 is warmed to a certain degree bythe heated motor before it goes out in the direction indicated by thearrow through the exhaust hole 11. If this warmed air is projected ontothe body before massaging with the vibrating unit 20, there will be nosudden change in the body temperature of the user of this vibrator andits full effect will be obtained immediately after its application tothe body. Moreover, while a body part is being massaged, the next partto be massaged can be preliminarily treated by said warmed air, so thatthe massaging can proceed smoothly and at the same time the capillarieswill be expanded, creating the same condition as just after bathtaking.The synergistic effect of vibration and heat in this case yieldsexcellent results which cannot be attained with the traditionalvibrator. This superb effect of massaging has a remarkable healingpower. Meanwhile, the expansion of the capillary blood vessels andconsequent promotion of blood circulation facilitates the rapidpenetration of a medicament or lotion into the treated part of the body.

The vibraor according to the present invention is simple inconstruction, cheap to manufacture and suited to mass production.Moreover, it is economical, in that the power cost is no more than thatfor a conventional vibrator,

because the fan 6 is driven by the same motor as drives the vibratingunit 20.

What is claimed is:

1. In a massaging device comprising a hollow handle, a motor within saidhandle, a drive shaft driven by said motor and a vibrator outside saidhandle driven by said drive shaft, the improvement which comprises a fanmounted on said drive shaft in the hollow handle and positioned to drawambient air through said motor for heating thereby, means for directingsaid heated air against a selected portion of the body, first springmeans supporting said vibrator on said hollow handle, and second springmeans connecting said vibrator and said drive shaft.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said fan is mounted on saiddrive shaft between said motor and vibrator.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said directing means is acylinder of larger diameter containing said fan and connected to saidhandle, said cylinder being provided with an inlet athwart which saidmotor is mounted and an exhaust port through which air arriving throughsaid inlet is exhausted.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 in which said motor comprises an ironcore defining a central orifice in a1ignment with said inlet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 920,814 5/1909 Behm et a1. 128351,144,308 6/1915 Nakata 12835 1,996,460 4/1935 Coates. 2,249,500 7/1941Shirley et a1. 12824.1 3,096,757 7/1963 Berard 12836 L. W. TRAPP,Primary Examiner.

